By Suban Abdulla and Sarah Mills
LONDON (Reuters) – Oasis tickets go on sale in Britain and Ireland on Saturday for the group’s long-awaited reunion, likely attracting old and new fans in a tour being billed as the “big event of 2025”.
The Britpop band announced their comeback this week to much fanfare, 15 years after they broke up when lead guitarist and main songwriter Noel Gallagher said he could no longer work with frontman and brother Liam after a number of public spats.
Mark Sutherland, a music business consultant and journalist, said the audience was likely to be made up of people who had the “best years of their lives soundtracked” by Oasis, and younger fans who know a few hits and want to experience them live.
Oasis opened a pre-sale ballot to those who can answer a question about the band, before tickets go on general release at 9 a.m (0800 GMT) in Britain and 8 a.m. in Ireland on Saturday.
Fans have also been advised to be vigilant of scams.
Harry Kind from consumer group Which? said Oasis and ticket sellers had put measures in place to deter people seeking to profit from the clamour for tickets, such as the ballot.
Oasis originally announced 14 shows in Cardiff, Manchester, where the group formed in 1991, London, Edinburgh and Dublin, but on Thursday added three dates after “unprecedented demand”.
Fans are not just trying to get into the shows.
Cheap hotel rooms appear to have been replaced by pricier options on travel sites in cities like Manchester and some people reported on social media that hotels had sought to cancel bookings they had made prior to the tour dates being announced, in a bid to relist them at a higher price.
The gigs are expected to provide a multi-million pound boost for Britain’s hospitality sector and economy.
“There will be huge sums of money spent on merchandise, travel, hotels, bars and restaurants, as well as creating jobs which are all linked directly to these gigs,” said Paul Haywood-Schiefer, senior manager at tax advisory firm Blick Rothenberg.
Although Oasis, one of the biggest British bands of recent decades, said plans were underway to go to other continents, fans were likely to fly in from abroad for the British shows.
“If you want to see Oasis, really the best place to do it is here in the UK where they mean so much,” Sutherland said.
(Reporting by Sarah Mills, writing by Suban Abdulla, editing by Alexander Smith)
